Cage defends Heavy Rain's mature content

By Tom Bramwell Published 31 October, 2009

"You won't be shocked for life by nipples."

Quantic Dream's David Cage has spoken up for his right to use sex in his games, pointing out that, "When you are 18... You won't be shocked for the rest of your life because you saw nipples."

Cage was speaking during his Developer Session at today's Eurogamer Expo in London where he demonstrated how Heavy Rain can be played in multiple ways and fielded a range of questions from the packed auditorium.

Eurogamer live-texted the entire thing, so check there for a complete transcript of events.

Cage had previously defended the use of sex in his games in a Eurogamer interview at gamescom, and elaborated on his views at today's Expo.

"As a game creator I have one very simple rule," he said. "Everything is allowed, no limits, as long as it makes sense in the story and is not gratuitous."

"So Heavy Rain is so much not about sex and violence, it's about characters and emotions... Even if Fox News comes and plays the game and says it's about sex, the whole community of gamers, I'm sure, will stand up and throw stones at them. That's what I hope. I count on you guys."

The fact Heavy Rain is an "18-plus title" should exclude him from this "ridiculous situation", he said.

"Then you start to discuss about parents don't know the ratings system, but there are porn movies on cable - if you don't pay attention to your kids, they may end up in front of a porn movie."

Elsewhere in the Q&A, Cage was asked what he took away from Fahrenheit, the last game he worked on before Heavy Rain. "Do we have two, three days for the answer?" he joked.

"The technology has evolved... Releasing Fahrenheit was considered a miracle, internally. With Heavy Rain the situation was different, the technology was better from day one," he said. "In a certain way we see Fahrenheit as the prototype for Heavy Rain, and Heavy Rain is hopefully the real thing."

Cage also talked about how the game's difficulty system works, and, perhaps inevitably, was asked whether it would be possible on another system. He said probably not.

Check out the full David Cage live text report to see what else occurred, and thanks very much to David for coming to the Expo.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mkreku #1 2 years ago

    Nipples? I'm shocked!

  • kendoji #2 2 years ago

    I am in favour of nipples.

  • Mashum #3 2 years ago

    Cage casts Nipples Of Free Publicity +5

  • imamazed #4 2 years ago

    "It's a constant source of amusement to me that, despite the industry and the community saying that videogames have matured, the industry has matured, videogames more accepted etc, the first time people hear of a game with nudity, sex or violence, it provokes a mass debate."


    Hehe, "mass debate"

  • Xerx3s #5 2 years ago

    "When you are 18... You won't be shocked for the rest of your life because you saw nipples."

    Well, sane & mature people won't be but the fruitcakes of this planet....

  • Xerx3s #6 2 years ago

    "you'd never imagine that a videogame had had civilians you could kill in it before"

    Yes, games like Carmageddon, GTA and the rest never existed.

  • ParanoidZombie #7 2 years ago

    "You won't be shocked for life by nipples". Since this is art and David Cage, I guess the nipples have cancer and that the woman they belong to breastfed her child. The child is dead, of course.
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/09 @ 15:15

  • schnide #8 2 years ago

    @ParanoidZombie

    And the tagline for them will be "How far will you go to save cancerous nipples that you love?"

    Then there'll be a minigame for you to waggle down the tears falling from the mother's eyes.

  • BigAl-1992 #9 2 years ago

    Rocks for pelting Fox news with when they say something bad about Heavy rain?-Check

  • Lord_Gremlin #10 2 years ago

    Shocked by nipples, you say? That depends on nipples. But judging by recent videos we'll see nice ones in this game.

  • drxym #11 2 years ago

    I expect what will happen is some pioneering journalist will use a small amount of nudity in the game to produce some utterly absurd shock piece about a "sex simulator". As a consequence a few major retailers will refuse to sell it. Completely stupid I know, but it's happened before.

  • Verminox #12 2 years ago

    Nipples?....GOTY!!!

  • TravisTouchdown #13 2 years ago

    More 'alarming' than nipples: The Powerglove and Cyber-glasses. I really wasn't expecting them...

  • Les #14 2 years ago

    "Even if Fox News comes and plays the game and says it's about sex, the whole community of gamers, I'm sure, will stand up and throw stones at them."

    Since when does one need an excuse to throw rocks at Fox News?!

  • riz23 #15 2 years ago

    Raspberries = Better Than Halo

  • oerhoert #16 2 years ago

    The thing that bothers me about the claptrap coming from Cage those latest months is the seeming implication that his thoughts are actually particularly interesting. As I understand it, he seems to think he's a bit more clever than he his.

    The sex in Fahrenheit was misjudged and stupid, so I am not going to defend anyone until I see the product in question.

  • SFG_Clan #17 2 years ago

    I seen nipples once... I ain't never been the same since o.O

  • Freek #18 2 years ago

    Yes, you do see Hollywood go nutts about the same subject. That's why mainstream movies do not contain scenes of a graphic sexual nature. They're in the same boat as games. Infact movies that do contain such things can even get refused by major retailers, effectivly killing off thier potentional to make money.
    See the movie "This fim is not yet rated" , verry revealing documentary about censorship in Hollywood.
    http://www.imdb. com/title/tt0493459/

  • man.the.king #19 2 years ago

    "When you are 18... You won't be shocked for the rest of your life because you saw nipples"

    Quite sarcastic...and very true :)

  • 3william56 #20 2 years ago

    18+ Game? Oh well. No release in liberal old "she'll be right mate" Australia then. >sigh<

    I'm all in favour of mass debates about p0rn in games.

  • mukki #21 2 years ago

    nipples or no nipples
    one could even say that all these statements about sex & violence in the game are just lame
    PR attempts to get some headlines...

    the story and the way it is told will make or break this game
    since to matter how good it looks if the story telling sucks so will game
    I am remaining skeptical but will probably pre-order...
    honestly it would be time that a game manages to tell a good tale
    since game like that are few and far between

  • Slipstream #22 2 years ago

    It's still somewhat of a grey area when ti comes to western gaming.
    Not many developers flesh out (pun not intended) characters and plot as much as Farenheit did or Heavy Rain will, so like a movie it shouldn't be so difficult to come to terms with scenes of a sexual nature, that will be nowhere near as ranchy you'd like to think anyway.

  • Skurmedel #23 2 years ago

    Maybe it's male nipples, they've always been alright to show. Luscious nipples,... pink, stiff... on sweaty.. rockhard... pecs... flexing and glistening in the ... sun.
    Edited by 1 at 01/11/09 @ 16:35

  • insincere_dave #24 2 years ago

    He's right, this wouldn't be possible on Xbox 360 because 360 owners have enough games to choose from that they don't have to resort to buying the pretentious but wholly unsatisfactory shit this man with a stupid name peddles.

  • kdoggdayton #25 2 years ago

    We've all sucked on a nipple at one point in our lives

  • Bigglesworth #26 2 years ago

    Nudity, sex and violence always makes me mass debate.